Awns that bore seeds into soil

Twisting seed awns

A fruit with a beak 🌿 Cooke describes crane’s-bill and stork’s-bill fruits as beak-shaped, with seeds arranged around the base.

Twisting seed awns

Dry: the awn twists 🍂 Cooke says drying bends the awn at a right angle to the narrow carpel and twists it into several turns.

Twisting seed awns

Moisture reverses the twist 💧 In moist air or when wet, Cooke says, the awn untwists.

Twisting seed awns

The turn bores the fruit in 🌱 On loose soil, Cooke reports, awn sweeps rotate the carpel and drive its sharp end down, burying the seed-bearing end.

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